Battle of the Badasses - Warcraft Edition

Today, the sun rises on Azeroth just any other day. But today, something is different. Today, the air feels different. The wind carries the scent of blood and combat, of victory and of defeat. From the four corners of Azeroth, heroes and villains alike awaken to the scent of conflict. Their eyes pierce into the heavens, yearning for the possibilities of this day. The glare from the morning sun glistens off steel and sword. The howls and screams of challenge echo through the mountains. The thumping sounds of hooves and wing flaps fill the air as combatants the world over race toward their destinations. Today is different. Today, something special is about to begin.

Battle of the Badasses has begun...

Chronormu, Ambassador of the Bronze Dragonflight, has been charged by her superiors to search the vast strands of time for the ultimate badass. Seeking the ultimate champion to protect the timelines and prevent the Cataclysm from ever happening again, the Bronze Dragonflight has put together a one time only event to find such a being. They've constructed a tournament to test all of the chosen badasses against one another until the ultimate champion is crowned. Chronormu, known to the mortal races simply as Chromie, has selected thirty two of the worlds ultimate combatants from both the past and from the present to compete in this tournament. Of the many that were chosen, only one will survive to be crowned ultimate badass.

The rules of the tournament are simple. Each combatant will wage bloody combat against another combatant in a single elimination tournament until only one remains standing. Each match is final and to the death. Two combatants enter. One combatant leaves. That is law. That is final. To ensure fairness, each battle will take place across four specifically chosen neutral arenas across Azeroth and Outland. The chosen four are The Ring of Valor in Durotar, The Ruins of Lordaeron in Tirisfal Glades, The Ring of Trials in Nagrand, and The Circle of Blood in Blade's Edge Mountains. Each of these arenas have been retrofitted to hold a seating capacity of 666 spectators. After the first three rounds of combat have concluded, the combat will move to The Crusaders' Coliseum in Northrend where the final four combatants will compete to crown a champion.

The field will consist of 32 combatants spread across 4 separate brackets. The winner of each bracket will advance to the Final Four which will be treated as separate bracket once the first three rounds of combat have concluded. The Winner of Bracket I will face the Winner of Bracket II in the Final Four, with Bracket III facing Bracket IV along side it. The Final Match to determine the champion will follow. Battles will take place in this forum with this thread acting as the main base of operations. Each specific battle will have its own thread for you to discuss and ultimately vote on. I will continuously update this thread with new battles and battle results. In addition, I will post links to newly posted battles as they are launched.

The procedure for each match is very basic. You simply vote on which combatant you think would win. You are presented with two choices, and are only allowed to vote once for one combatant. The votes for each match are placed by you and are to determine who you feel would win in a fight to the death. The voting will last three days. At the end of three days, the combatant with more votes will be declared the winner. If each combatant is tied in votes, I will post another overtime match that will last 1 day. Each combatant will come complete with a personal bio that details his or her Species, Title, and Weapon of Choice. The combatants were chosen on popularity, skill in combat, and overall Badassness.

The combatants will first be introduced during the Opening Ceremonies. Festivities will last all week long leading up to the opening battles on Thursday July 22nd. Brackets will be posted immediately and will be filled in and updated as each new Badass is introduced. The Brackets will also be updated as the tournament progresses to display the current standings of the competition. Once we reach The Final Four, the Bracket for that will also be posted.

Finally, for the sake of fairness, there were some restrictions placed on who I chose to compete. Beings who are considered immensely powerful such as Titans, Old Gods, Dragon Aspects, Ancients, and things of that nature have been omitted. Instead, the field is comprised of beings who you would consider to be mortal, and whom can be killed. While some are certainly more powerful than others, I feel they are all close enough in power, that anyone of them could kill the rest. Lastly, each chosen badass has a portrait that is attached to each character bio. All of the artwork for these portraits were obtained either from Wowwiki or off various websites found through google image search. While most of these portraits are from official Blizzard pieces, some are not. If you are the artist of any of these portraits and wish to be credited, just let me know and I will credit you in this thread.

The Opening Ceremonies have officially come to a close and the First Round has begun. Battles from all four brackets will begin showing up in the Cataclysm: General Discussion Forums for people to vote on. Each battle will last two days each and the winner will be determined by whomever has accumulated the most votes within that time period. If the Badasses finish in a tie, then a special one day overtime round will be initiated to decide the winner. This will continue on as long as necessary until a clear winner is decided.

I will be putting up multiple battles every few days, for a total of sixteen battles throughout Round One. When a new battle is posted, I will put up a commencement entry in this thread along with a brief preview and link to the actual battle thread. Make sure you continue to check this thread daily if you want to assure yourself you participate in every battle. Once a battle has been decided, I will post a battle statement in this thread declaring the winner, in addition to updating the brackets to illustrate round progression. Finally, all active ongoing battles will be listed below with links to the battles themselves.

The First Round of Battle of the Badasses is officially over and in the archives. As with the initial round, the battles in Round Two will last two days each, with the winner being decided by whichever combatant accumulates the most votes over that time period. All battles are to the death, and you are voting for who you feel wins in a fight to the death. Battles in Round Two will be posted one at a time, just like the previous round and will last two days each. A separate category in the main post has also been added to archive all Round Two battles.

The First Round went pretty much as expected overall. There were no big surprises or upsets as far as I could tell. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Round One were not the final results, but the actual amount of votes some combatants won by. Thrall and Medivh both put on dominating performances, while Hogger, Varian, and Saurfang easily won their battles as well. It's going to be an interesting Second Round, as most of these strong performers will start to be tested by equally strong performers. It's going to be fun to watch who survives into Round Three.

The Second Round of competition has concluded and The Bracket Finals have officially started. Only eight combatants are left, two in each bracket, with one match in each to decide which combatant will win his bracket and earn one of those elusive Final Four spots. The Bracket Finals will play out much the same as previous rounds, with the winner being decided by whomever accumulates the most votes within the voting period. However, starting now battles will last three days each instead of two for the rest of the competition.

The Final Four Bracket is now posted and will be filled in and updated as each Bracket Winner is determined. Who will make up our Final Four? Will favorites Thrall and Malfurion continue their collision course? Or will Medivh resume his early dominance? Perhaps Vol'jin or Tirion will maintain their darkhorse status and spring some upsets. I'm sure Grom, Arthas, and Lothar have alot to say as well. All those questions are about to be answered over the next few weeks. It's time for the Bracket Finals.

The Final Four is finally upon us people. The Bracket Finals have concluded and at long last we have our complete Final Four picture. Because of the significance of these final few battles, all remaining combat has been moved to The Crusaders' Coliseum in Northrend, which will serve as a fitting finale to the competition. The rules will be the same as the Bracket Finals, with both battles lasting three days each and the winner being determined by whomever accumulates the most votes within that time period. As with every other battle, these matches are to the death, and you are voting for who you think survives in a fight to the death.

The Bracket Finals provided some great competition and some fantastic matches, which in turn gave us quite an interesting Final Four Bracket. In one match we have Grom Hellscream against Thrall, Son of Durotan. Best friends forced to do battle for the right to advance to the final match. On the other side of things we have legendary hero Anduin Lothar going up again the mighty Medivh. Two former foes who are set to do battle once more. Which two combatants will fall, and which two combatants will prevail for the right to have a shot at the ultimate crown a few short days from now.

I hereby officially declare The Final Four of the Warcraft Battle of the Badasses open.

Dont forget saurfang, and if lothar is in here gotta include doomhammer be cause doomhamer pwned him, and who can forget grom hellscream one shotting mannoroth

The fight was actually fairly close, had Lothars sword not broken who knows how the end would have resulted. Doomhammer was so tired after his fight with Lothar that Turylon was able to smack him around with a hilt.

The fight was actually fairly close, had Lothars sword not broken who knows how the end would have resulted. Doomhammer was so tired after his fight with Lothar that Turylon was able to smack him around with a hilt.

technically before the lore was changed lothar was killed by a group of orcs in an ambush. it was changed to make the horde look a little better in the eyes of the buyers of WoW when it was released

I think you guys will be pleased overall. There's a decent selection of heroes and villains. As well as a good mixture of past and present characters. I tried to make sure as many of the major races are represented as well. Plus a few "fun" choices.